Digital Dreamland

England

Copyright

All content on this site is the copyright work of Artyjen unless otherwise stated. The artwork is for you to enjoy and be inspired by and anything offered "from me to you" as a gift is for your personal use only. Please remember that items may not be copied for any commercial use which include monetary gain or competitions, reader galleries or any other submissions for publication.I try to respect others' copyright too, so if you see anything on this site that contravines the above, please let me know, and I will remove it toot-sweet! Thanks for reading.

Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Having been in agony from a torn deltoid muscle in my right arm since Christmas there has only been so much I have been able to do!

It has just got to a point where I am not fighting pain every day....crikey I only wish I knew how I damaged the muscle in the first place 'cos I do not want it to happen again!!!!

Anyway this month's tag from T!m just had to be done...only just in time though huh....and yes, I have caved in and bought the butterfly...had to....lol ;)
Managed at last to actually cut a mask from T!m's special self sticky masking sheets! Just know I will be using this butterfly again ;)

Thanks for looking.

P.S. As it was barely possible to fasten my bra some days during the last three months I decided to invest in a front fastening one...seemed a logical thing....except.....have you seen the designs? Not a lot of choice basically.....and the lady in M and S tried to sell me one that had a zip in the front (nice look that ....showing through a blouse!) and looked like a vest it covered so much up!! Another thing....why are they made in humongous sizes that would support a small country?!!! ROFLIAIn the end I just left my bra off on the days that were impossible! Rofl.

Monday, 30 March 2015

The seventh Inspiration Wednesday. is coming up this Wednesday and I have only just finished week 6.....a long weekend away at a wedding and having a rotten cold on my return put me behind!
Still it's not a race.....but I do like to keep up! LOL :)

What did I learn this time?
1. Embedding stuff onto your page with texture paste can make some fabulous effects.

2. It's very messy painting with your fingers! :)

3. Must use my vibrant india inks more often....I chose to use the words "Bloom and Grow"....sort of went with the tree like shapes and the seed pod stencil on the inclusion.

Saturday, 21 March 2015

Well you are not going mad you have seen nearly the exact same one here.

I can't seem to improve on this design...

...I really like it and the couples I have made it for do too!

This time though I made a little gift card voucher holder to go with it...

...except it actually has some money inside.

It uses up the "scrapling" sized piece of card you get when you cut a square card from an A4 sheet.

The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque stamped on a distress inked background that is actually a digital item....I took a photo of the original inked piece 'cos I loved the colour combo so.....now I can print it out and use it anytime I like! :)

Saturday, 7 March 2015

The fifth Inspiration Wednesday had me wondering if I'd complete it...
...or for that matter even start it!
But as I got stuck in and started making the masks I began to enjoy the journey :)Front view of inclusion

Rear view of inclusion

As I started to put the strips of material down to make a nest like Donna did they just sort of turned into flames instead...
...it helped that I had cut up bits that were in the red spectrum ;)...
...I added some Viva copper crackle stuff to the flames too, but only thinly so there was no crackle but that's O.K.

Next time I do the masking/stamping of the bird thing I need to make a thicker layer of modelling paste as the outline got a little lost so I lightly coloured the whole bird with some Viva Inca Gold copper and outlined it with a black pen.

Sentiment "Light your own fire!" (my own design) from The Artistic Stamper
Flowers also from The Artistic Stamper along with Tim Holtz ones.
"She rose like a phoenix" printed out on paper and glued with multi matte medium (Ranger)

What did I learn this time?
1. Making the masks for the bird and wings was great fun (although it was not part of the lesson!)
2. Making a skin...?! What the....? Well that was fun too! Definitely going to do that bit again :)

3. Adding cloth to a page makes some great texture.

4. Galeria sand texture gel does not hide anything underneath it as it dries clear...you have to mix colour into it or as I did quickly dollop more texture paste over the top!

e.g. The yellow colour here is the sand gel and not any other colour on top.But if I had actually read the label it would have told me this!!! ROFL !

It came out O.K. very nicely thank you, even if I do say so myself!
At least I don't have to plait sawdust now!!! ROFLAlthough I can't get that idea out of my head and who knows I just might end up trying it!!! ;)

Thursday, 5 March 2015

OMG! This is only the first stage of it too!
Think there may have to be 3 phases to posting of this page! lolAs normal I could not wait to get started.....that's what is so nice about this......It's giving me the get up and go to do some creating!! :)

Firstly I had to hand cut some masks of my own as I don't possess any with a large open area of space!I've had the plain masking sheets for ages and at last have actually used them!!! ;)

Wait overnight for some stuff to dry.

Cut up some scraps of cloth.

If this turns out O.K........I'll plait sawdust!.....oooh, hang on...
...that's probably part of the next lesson ROFL!!!

What did I learn this time? ;)
1. Ranger Glue and Seal seems to be identical to Ranger matte medium in what it does!
2. You get some interesting effects by removing the colour after you have put it on ;)
3. If you have Golden heavy bodied (thick) acrylic like me (and not the fluid acrylic Donna has) you need to add a LOT of glazing liquid to make it thin enough to make a washy effect....I had to rub like mad to get the colour off because it was so thick ;) lol
4. A very soft pencil can double up as a charcoal one at a pinch....but it won't make a mark on Ranger matte medium!!! I had to outline the highlighted words with a bit of gesso, let it dry, then use the pencil over this and blend!!!

Thursday, 19 February 2015

We kept up with most of the service in German...even managed to sing along to some sections!! No pictures though ;(

No chance of seeing the special three Kings exhibit. We did however get a brief look at some of the interior after the service but they soon hurried everyone out of the place and shut the doors!!!

We went for coffee and cake...can't miss out on coffee and cake can you?

Strolled along the river side and gazed at the Rhine.

This section of houses looks almost ancient but they were all modern rebuilds after the war.

We even walked all the way to the Chocolate factory museum but it was inevitably closed!!

The bonus was seeing his neat sculpture on the way...made out of what looked like old tractor parts :)

Across from there was a mustard museum...really just a glorified shop but hey it was open!

It's situated on Holzmarkt.

(Should you ever want to go)

We got a little concerned to see shops boarding their windows up!!!

Another Kolsch was in order...

...before we saw the main parade of the day..they have large viewing stands all around the route.

...no great photo's as I'm so short and there were so many people in front of me!!! lol

We walked a little way more into town and did find a bit of a gap in the crowds to see the next bit of parade.

The procession participants throw candy to the crowds and the little boy in the red jacket managed to grab most of it...his mum was rolling her eyes at him...lol...although I did manage to get one of the roses they throw too :)

We had a great time even if it did not pan out quite how we expected...we left on Monday (the really important parade happens then) but we were sort of glad we did not have to weave our way through the large crowds that were already pouring into the city on the trains, as we waited for our early train to the airport.We will just have to go back one day....think it will have to be for the Christmas markets next time :)

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Valentines day dawned and our breakfast in the Hotel Glockengasse was beyond great...for such a small hotel it's amazing! Great choices, eggs freshly cooked to order...super.

Only about 10 mins from the cathedral so we thought we would start off with that....

....hard to believe that this was hardly damaged during the bombings of WW2 whilst the rest of Cologne was more or less flattened! Such a tragedy.

Also a tragedy that we could not go inside....can you believe it was shut during the day because of carnival! I can sort of understand, with all those people and the fact some of them can get a bit worse for wear shall we say ;) but this was really the main reason we had decided on Cologne as my honeybee is researching why his churches alter is based on the one in Cologne cathedral.

Took plenty of pictures of the church exterior though!

What next?

Well we had wanted to visit some of the art galleries so we walked the short distance to the archaeology museum only to find...

...you guessed it.....closed!!! It turned out that all the galleries were closed during carnival!!!

These beautiful pieces were on show on the outside behind glass so apologies for the reflections.

Went on a long walk about after that and saw some great marching bands...

.

..then stopped off for a few more Kolsch!

The round trays hold the full beer glasses and waiters will come round and replenish your empty ones ;)

Some street food...

Basically rosti potatoes which were delish...

... and a sweet Valentine cake each.

We ended the day with a romantic Italian meal.....we were very lucky to get a table in a nice little place just round the corner from the hotel.

Arty Dreamland

Married to the most fabulous man....the love of my life.
Lover of all things arty! But where to find the time to create and earn a living! You won't necessarily find the latest must have crafting goodies here.....I don't work in the craft industry......I'm just trying to do the best I can with what I've got!!! Hopefully it turns into something I quite like along the way. LOL
Constantly striving to improve.......constantly worrying that the "powers that be" will destroy the fishing industry and I'll be out of a job!!!
Forever grateful that I live in a beautiful part of the country.